Fluid responsive control valve



United States Patent Willy Gasaert 59 iieuptasse, Solothurn, Switzerland[2!] Appl. No. 764,440

[ 72] inventor [22] Filed Oct. 2, 1968 [45] Patented Nov. 24, 1970 [32]Priority Oct. 4, 1967 [33] Switzerland [54] FLUID RESPONSIVE CONTROLVALVE 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs. v t

[52] US. Cl 137/625. [51] Int. Fl6lt 11/07 [50] Field of Search..137/624.27,

. 56] References Cited UNIT ED STATES PATENTS 2,736,297 2/1956 MacDonaldl37/624.27X

2,957,457 10/1960 Rabjohn Primary Examiner-Henry T. KlinksiekAttorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: A multiway controlvalve for controlling the oscillatory movement of the piston of ahydraulically or pneumatically actuated oscillator in such manner thatthe period of oscillation of the piston movement-of the oscillator isindependent of the velocity of the piston. The control valve comprises avalve housing and a fluid actuated control piston arranged forreciprocating movement in the housing. A longitudinally extending recessis provided at each end of the control piston,

and two springs are mounted one at each end of the piston. In-

the unstressed state, the springs press against the edge of therespective recess in the control piston to restrain the movement of thepiston until the force acting on one end'of the piston exceeds thespring force, at which time the relevant spring is then laterallycompressed and slides into the recess of the piston so as not torestrain the piston.

P atented' Nov. 24, 1970 3,542,074

Sheet 1 of 2 Fig.7

1 T" 11 L6 11 T10 11 Patented Nov. 24, 1970 3,542,074

Sheet 2 of2 Fig. 3

7 9 6 70 I I l .15 3. F/31017 lPosi/ion Fig. 4

a l/ WWW FLUID RESPONSIVE CONTROL VALVE This invention relatesto amultiway control valve for a pneumatically or hydraulically actuatedoseillator ,'suchval ve comprising a valve housing and a control pistonwhich is movable for reciprocation'in the housing.

For certain purposesit may be necessary to control the oscillatorymovement of the piston of a pneumatically or hydraulically actuatedsingle-acting or double-acting cylinder in such a manner that the periodof oscillation of the piston is independent of thevelocity of thepiston. By means of such ends thereof in communication with ports 7 and8 respectively of the control valve 1 by way of pipes 7' and 8'. Port 6forms the compressed air inlet, while ports 9 and act as compressed airoutlets. The two outlet ports 9 and 10 may be procontrol the-duration ofthe piston movement in the one.-

direction may be controlled to be longer than in the other direction,.orit may be controlled to be the same in both directions. In order "toprovide such control, several multiway control valves havebeen used incombination heretofore, although such arrangements are comparativelycomplex and demand much space. n

It is therefore an objectof the present invention to provide a multiwaycontrol valve by means of which'a control of the kind mentioned abovecan be exercised. v v

In accordance withthe present invention, there is provided a multiwaycontrol valve for a pneumatically or hydraulically actuated oscillatorwhich comprises a valve housing, a control piston arranged forreciprocation in the housing, andmeans arranged to automatically imposea restrain on the movement of the control piston in both its directionsof movement.

vided with throttlingmeans by which the exit velocity of thecompressedair therefrom can be regulated. The pipes 7' and 3 arealso incommunication with the pipe connecters 14a and 14b respectively by wayof throttling valves 23 and 24 connected into the pipelines 21 and 22respectively. With the control piston 5 in this position the compressedair entering through port 6 flows through the control chamber 12,through port 7, and through pipe 7 and enters the cylinder 19 at theport 7' thereof, with the result that the. piston 20 in the cylinder'l9is displacedto the right in the direction shown by the arrow until itstrikes the end 25 of the cylinder 19. At the same time the piston 20forces the air present in the cylinder 19 out of the cylinder throughits other port 8", pipe 8', valve port 8, and valve outlet port l0. Whenthe piston 20 reaches the end 25 of the cylinder 19, the compressed airthen flows from the pipe 7' through the throttling valve23, pipe 21, and

the pipe connecter 164 back into the, control chamber 12 .where itexerts a'iforce on the control piston 5. The. control piston 5 is heldin its left-hand end position by means of the spring 18b; which has itsopen end arms pressing against the edgeof the recess 13b in the piston5, until a pressure is ex erted-on the other end' of the piston which issufficient to over- In order thatthe invention may be fully understood,em-

bodiments in accordance therewith will now be described by way ofexample and with reference to the accompanying drawings,'in which:

FlG. l is a sectional view accordance with the invention;

' FIG. 2 is a flow diagram for the actuation of an oscillatorconstructed as adouble-acting cylinder;

f FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for'the" actuation of an oscillatorconstructed as a single-acting cylinder; and e v FIG. 4 shows a colletspring as well as a pipe connecter formed with ahosegrip. I e j I e eThe five-way control valve 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a housing 2closed at'both ends by respective end plates land 4. A pneumatically orhydraulically actuated control piston 5 is mounted within a cylindricalcontrol chamber 12 in' the'housthrough a five 'way control valve in ing2. There are five connection ports 6,7,8,9. and'10 formed" through. thelongitudinal wall of the housing 2, three of the come the force of thespring 18b. If the pressure force becomes greater than the forceex'erted by the spring 18b then the spring is laterally compressed andslides into the recess 13b in the piston, so thatth'e restraint on thecontrol piston 5 is removed andit is displaced impulsively to the right.When the piston 5 reaches its right-hand terminal position the spring18a, which until now has been in its-compressed state in the recess 13aof the'piston, emerges from the recess, becomes unstressed, presses-itsarms against the edge of'the recess 13a,

and thus provides a' rc'straintagainst the piston moving back to theleft; The compressed air entering through port 6 now flows through port8, pipe 8,, and cylinder port 8" into the cylinder '19 and displaces thepiston 20 in the opposite direction, i.e. to

" t Y the left as shownin ElG. 2. After this movement of the piston bythe spring 18a-is overcome and the piston 5 is displaced control piston5 has a recess 13a and-13b at each end thereof and moves back and forthin the control chamber 12 between its terminal rest positions whenitabuts the end plates 3 and 4 respectively. In order to supply to thevalve a pressurized medium for actuating the control piston 5, a pipeconnecter 14a, 14b is screwed into each of the end plates 3 and}. Eachof these pipe connecters 14z'1 and 14b isdesigned to be coupled totheend of a pipe or hos'eand is provided with aretain- 20 has finished,pressure builds up at thepipe connecter 16b of the valve 1 until therestr'aint'exerted on the control piston 5 back towards its left-handend position. The period of oscillation of theipiston 20 can beregulated by means of the two throttling valves 23 and 24. These can beso adjusted that the duration of the movement of the piston 20 in eachof the two directions is either the same or is longer in one directionthan intheother. 1 r

As is evident from FIG. 3 a single-acting cylinder 26 can be used as theoscillatorinstead of the double-acting piston and cylinder shown in FIG.2. In the embodiment shown in FIG.:3

. the piston 27 of the'oscillator 26 moves against the action of a ingnut 15a, 15b which can be screwed down to finedlyela'rnp the associatedpipe or hoseon to the tapered outer end portion 16a, 16b of theconnecter. The pipe connecters 14a and spring 28. When the controlpiston S of the control valve 1 is located in its right-hand endposition the compressed air flows through port 6'into the controlchamber 12 and out of the "chamber through poi-t8 and pipe 8', enteringthe cylinder 26 v, at the right-hand port 8 andforcing the piston 27 tothe left,

with the result that the spring 28 is compressed. When the piston '27reaches its left-hand end position pressure builds up 14b. have 'bores.17a and 175' respectively formed thcrethrough, andin these b'ores areprovidedrespective collet springs 18aand'18b, whose laterallycompressible open,

ends project into thecontrol chamber 12. These springs are so arrangedand formed'as to cause an automatic check or restraint to be imposedonthe movement of the control piston I 5 in both of its directions ofmovement.

at the pipe connecter 16b of the control piston 5 by flow through thepipe 8', throttling valve 28, and pipe 29, until the restraint on thecontrol piston 5 due to the spring 18a is 'over-' come and the piston isdisplaced to the left into its other end position. The piston 27 of theoscillator is thereby relieved of its loading and the spring 28 returnsthe piston 27 to its righthand end position. The compressed air nowflows'throughport The manner of operation of the control valve 1 willnow be I explained with reference to the compressed air flow diagramsshown in FIGS.) and 3. In FIG. 2, a double-acting cylinder 19 serves asan oscillator associated with'the valve 1. The control piston 5 of thecontrol valve 1 is located in its one terminal positionin which it restsagainst the left-hand end plate 3 as shown in FIG. 1. The oscillator 19has ports 7" 8" at opposite 7, pipe 30,, and throttling valve 31 to thepipe connecter l6a1of the control piston 5 until the restrainton themovement of the piston in the "opposite direction due to the spring 18bis removed and the control jpiston 5 is again displaced into itsright-hand end position. Then begins a new working cycle. In thisembodiment also the period of oscillation of the piston 27 can beregulated by means of the throttling valves 28 and 31.

Control of the oscillatory movement of the piston 20 or 27 can beeffected in both embodiments without throttling valves, in which casethe strength of the springs 18a and 18b is chosen so that the forceexerted by the springs is overcome at a predetermined pressure.

FIG. 4 shows a hose grip 32 having a circumferentially ridged peripheralsurface which may be usedinstead of the pipe connecters 14b and 14b.This FIG. also shows a collet spring 18 which is inserted in the bore 33of the hose grip and is fixedly held therein, and which exercises thecheck or restraint on the movement of the control piston of the valve 1.

The control valve 1 described herein can also be used for hydrauliccontrol functions, in which case the actuation of the control piston 5is likewise carried out hydraulically. In this case a pressure reservoirmust be provided in each of the pipe lines leading to the pipeconnecters 14 a and 14b in order to balance out any pressure surges.

lclaim:

1. A fluid responsive control valve comprising a housing includingopposite endswalls, said housing being provided with a longitudinalchannel, a piston including opposite end portions slidably supported insaid channel for movement between said opposite end walls, an inlet portprovided in said housing in communication with said channel, in outletport provided in said housing in communication with said channel, areturn port provided in said housing in communication with said channel,a pair of resilient members supported in said housing and extending insaid channel, each of said resilient members including a secured portionand a restraining portion for engagement one with each of said oppositeend portions of said piston, said resilient means acting to restrain thelongitudinal movement of said piston in said channel toward a respectiveone of said opposite end walls, said restraining portion of each of saidresilient members being deformable laterally of said channel, saidrestraining portion upon being laterally deformed beyond a prescribedmagnitude acting to substantially free said piston from longitudinalrestraint, and means for receiving the laterally deformed restrainingportion of each of said resilient members after the restraining portionhas been laterally deformed beyond said prescribed magnitude so thatsaid piston may be moved beyond thelaterally deformed restrainingportion to continue toward a respective one of said opposite end walls.

2. A control valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein said piston isprovided with a longitudinally disposed recess at each of said endportions thereof, each constituting said means for receiving arespective laterally deformed restraining portion of each of saidresilient members.

3. A control valve as claimed in claim 2, wherein said restrainingportion of each of said resilient members includes a pair of laterallydeformable arms stemming from said secured portion which issubstantially loop-shaped.

4. A control valve as claimed in claim 3, including a further returnport provided in said housing in communication with said channel, saidreturn port and said further return port being provided one in each ofsaid opposite end walls and longitudinally opposite each of saidopposite end portions of said piston.

5. A control valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein said pair of resilientmembers are each supported to extend from said return port and saidfurther return port respectively into said channel, and includingconnccter means in communication with said return port and said furtherreturn port for supporting said resilient members.

6. A control valve as claimed in claim 5, wherein said connecter meansincludes a coupling means for coupling said connecter to an externalsource.

7. A control valve as claimed in claim 6, wherein said external sourceincludes a further housing provided with a further channel, a furtherpiston slidably supported in said further channel, first meansconstituting an inlet and outlet port provided in said further housingin communication with said further channel, first conduit means couplinsaid outlet port and said return port of said housing with sai meansconstituting an inlet and outlet port of said further housing, andthrottling means included in said first conduit means for controlling aflowing medium to said return port.

8. A control valve as claimed in claim 7, wherein said further housingincludes second means constituting an inlet and outlet port incommunication with said further channel, said housing including afurther outlet port in communication with said channel, second conduitmeans coupling said further outlet port and said further return port ofsaid housing with saidsecond means constituting an inlet and outlet portof said further housing, and throttling means included in said secondconduit means for controlling a flowing medium to said further returnport.

9. A control valve as claimed in claim 7, including a spring supportedin said further channel for biasing said further piston in one directionin said further channel.

